G E R transfers

Query: why would you need transfers for the Decapod? All the photographs of it show it entirely unlettered, apart from the heavily serif'd number on the buffer beam:

It's lined, of course - black and white over the works light grey.

Other GER tank engines (from Massey Bromley's regime onwards) had G E R on the tank sides, but of course the Decapod had no tank sides to letter. It's rather hard to see where such lettering could have gone on it - even in the improbable event of it ever receiving standard colours..

The serif lettering might be possible to match elsewhere. Failing that, try matching it on the computer and then printing onto some of that "print your own transfers" paper?

"Andrew Robert Breen" wrote

Did it not also carry GER dark blue lined livery?

John.

It's been claimed that it did - but these claims all seem to have been long after the event. All the contemporary stuff I've seen (unless I'm badly mis-remembering!) say it only ever appeared in grey (the GER, like quite a few railways of the time, seems to have run trials of new types with the engine in grey) - and of course the Decapod was /only/ for trials..

Even if they did paint in in running colours, I'm at a loss to see where they could fit the lettering. Did any of the old GER well-tanks last into the Bromley era, and if so has anyone seen a photograph of one to see whether they were lettered?

Isn't that just photographic grey for the picture?

Oddly enough the page "above" ths one

has a thumbnail for the Sharps 2-2-2T being discussed in another thread.

It also has a picture of a very pretty E.B.Wilson 2-4-0 tank build by Manning Wardle.

It's amazing what you can find when you're hunting the web.

Is that picture the same as:

?

If so - it's from a cigarette card of the time. These were notoriously unreliable in terms of colour. The blue in the image is entirely different (much lighter and greyer) than the GER standard, and looks almost like a slightly "bluer" version of the photographic/trials grey. The lining... looks like something half-way between the black/white lining used for the photographs and the standard lining. Altogether most odd (and aberrant).

Actually, looking at it closer, the buffer beams are far too light. It might have been that the picture originally represented the engine in standard GER blue (or as the painter re-working the photograph imagined that it would look in these colours!) but the card has faded badly. I don't think you can rely on that image for an accurate representation of livery.

Hi Andrew Yes it is the same picture, & having seen the picture I would rather like to finish it in a similar coloured livery. It looks more finished than a plain grey. I am afraid that I am not a "Purest" Can you help about suppliers of tranfers. Many thanks Roger.

photographs

Aberystwyth

Point taken and appreciated - bending the rules is half of what the fun is about :)

As to transfers, Blackham Transfers do GER lettering and locomotive numbers - though not, it would seem, lining:

(RB5302 is the buffer-beam numbering)

Lining - best bet might be to use the single-colour strips from HMRS and build up the specific scheme you want:

either that or try to see how you get on with a lining pen.

Hope this is of some use to you..

The lined grey is what they called "photographic grey" and was done specially for photographing new engines at the works because the early emulsions didn't represent colours very well, and also because polished paint and brass would overwhelm the film.

I always assumed this picture which I first saw on a cigarette card AFAIR was one of these, colourised.

There was a Holden GE 0-6-0 which ran in grey undercoat for a while but that was a one-off. I think he had taken on a challenge to get a brand new locomotive built and out of the factory in record time, less than a day.

Many thanks Andrew I shall try your suggestions Roger.

Aberystwyth

"Christopher A.Lee" wrote

GER freight locos did actually carry grey livery in traffic, but the 'Decapod' wasn't a freight loco.

John.

I didn't know that.

Yes.

The question of the Decapod's colour has come up in the GER Society from time to time. It is generally accepted now that it never appeared in blue, although various "artists' impressions" have shown it thus.

Not the only example of this I have seen, and not only with railways. I have a coloured 'publicity' postcard showing a BAC Concorde in BOAC blue and white, whereas they were so late that BOAC had become BA by the time they entered service!

However, back to the original question. GER gold lettering and numbering transfers are available in both 4mm and 7mm scales from:

Guilplates, 32 Wodeland Avenue, Guildford GU2 4JZ. e-mail snipped-for-privacy@globalnet.co.uk

Hope this helps

Allan Sibley

Just noticed that Guilplates' e-mail address ssems to have got automatically 'shortened' in my previous posting:

It is Guilplat "at" globalnet "dot" co "dot" uk

Allan Sibley

I believe the Decapod, the GER's quickest dragster, was modified after the trials for which it was built and saw ordinary service for a while.

After a fashion - it was "converted" into an 0-8-0 tender goods engine with a much smaller boiler and, IIRC, considerable alterations to the cylinders (it might be more accurate to say that it was taken to pieces and parts used for the 0-8-0...) which was used in traffic for a little while. Going by contemporary comments (Ahrons, mainly) it was far from successful. I'm not sure I've ever seen a picture of the "rebuild".

Photos of the rebuilt Decapod are not unknown. There is one in The Great Eastern since 1900, another in Great Eastern Albumn and probably in any book covering the GER's locos.

One unusual thing, for the GER, is that the rebuild had outside cylinders. Most other GER locos since 1880 were inside cylinder, only exceptions that spring to mind are what became LNER classes Y5 and J70.

OK. I must go a-hunting for those..

Surely not? Bromley didn't resign until 1881 (according to

) and there a batch of his most elegant singles (surely the most beautiful of their type, and I include the GNR machines in that assessment..) was delivered from Kitsons in '81-'82 (same ref., but it's consistent with what i've read elsewhere). Over and above that, there were the 2-4-0s built under the Gillies interregnum (1881-82) which were derived from the old Sinclairs and so would have outside cylinders. "GER engines since 1882", maybe... ;)

Has anyone ever modelled black-period GER?

It lasted some 10 years, IIRC, which (also IIRC) was longer than eg the GWR's Krugers.

I suspect it ran and was overhauled until something non-standard wore out and needed replacing. My guess would be the cylinders.

Tim